What is known of the author's life is drawn from the text of his published work. He says nothing about his country, but we believe that he was born in the village of Velez where he lived with his grandfather Ahmed, and that Ahmed ibn Abd 'l-Malik ibn Amirah was a cousin of Yahya, the author's father. Adh-Dhabbi is believed to have spent most of his life in
Murcia and
Lorca; where from fourteen years of age, he began his studies under Mohammad ibn Jafar ibn Ahmed ibn Hamid, who died in the year 586 AH. Adh-Dhabbi travelled to many regions of
Spain and
Africa, visiting the cities of
Ceuta in
Spain, and
Alexandria in Egypt, where he found welcome among literary circles. Along his travels he met the philologist
Abd al-Ḥaqq el-Ishbīli in
Béjaïa, and fellow encyclopedist-biographer,
Abu Ṭāhir Ibn 'Auf in Alexandria.
Ibnul Abbar in his work, titled
At-Takmilah, recorded the death of Adh-Dhabbi as being crushed by a falling wall in Murcia and passing soon after being removed from the debris on the 25th of
Rabi Aakhir 599/Jan 1203. ==Works==